Mark Alexandrovich Ivanir (Russian: Марк Александрович Иванир; Ukrainian: Марк Олександрович Іванір; Hebrew: מארק איווניר) is an Israeli actor, known for his character roles in film and television. Fluent in six languages, Ivanir's film credits include Schindler's List, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Good Shepherd, The Terminal, Johnny English Reborn, A Late Quartet, and Emilia Pérez. On television, he has appeared on The Shield, Homeland, 24, Alias, The Blacklist, and Mayor of Kingstown.
On stage, Ivanir co-founded Israel's acclaimed Gesher Theater.
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Early life
Ivanir was born in Chernovtsi, Ukrainian SSR (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine) to a Jewish family. His family emigrated to Israel in 1972, and settled in the Pardes Katz neighbourhood of Bnei Brak. His father, Alexander, was an English language teacher, and his mother Malka a German language teacher. His maternal grandfather, Meshulem Surkis, was a Yiddish writer, journalist, actor, and theatre critic, who was an activist in the Yiddish cultural world. He was raised in a multilingual household, speaking Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Russian, and later learning English.
His national service in the Israel Defense Forces saw him involved in Operation Joshua, one of two operations by the IDF to bring Ethiopian Jews from Sudanese refugee camps to Israel. After completing his service, he turned down a job offer from the Mossad. He briefly studied medicine, before deciding on a life in the performing arts. He completed two years in a circus school, traveled throughout Europe performing on the streets as a clown, and ended up working in the Parisian Cirque Pawelles. After leaving the circus, Ivanir entered into formal theatrical training under Israeli director Nissan Nativ, performing at the Cameri Theater and Israeli Opera.
Career
During this time, Ivanir had his first film role in the 1988 action film Iron Eagle II, directed by Sidney J. Furie. The film was a Canadian-Israeli-American co-production filmed in Israel with an international cast. Ivanir played a Soviet army serviceman, Mikhail Balyonev.
Following his studies with Nativ, Ivanir joined the Gesher Theater, a Tel Aviv-based company composed of emigrants from the former USSR. Using his knowledge of multiple languages, Ivanir translated and adapted eight foreign-language plays into Hebrew for the company. He moved to London to study under Philippe Gaulier at École Philippe Gaulier and Complicité.
Ivanir's first major film role was in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List, where he played Marcel Goldberg. He worked with Spielberg twice thereafter, first for a cameo appearance in The Terminal, then again for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Ivanir held a pivotal role in Robert De Niro's 2006 film, The Good Shepherd, for which he won the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, later landing a role in Barry Levinson's What Just Happened, this time acting alongside De Niro.
In 2011, he appeared in Universal's Johnny English Reborn, Universal's Big Miracle and 360.
His biggest part to date was in A Late Quartet, released by RKO pictures in the United States, in 2012. The film was voted one of the New York Daily News 10 top films of the year. Ivanir played Daniel Lerner, the first violin of the string quartet, whose other members are played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken.
Ivanir has made more than 60 appearances in guest starring or guest leading roles in shows including 24, Monk, CSI: NY, Law & Order, Fringe, CSI: Miami, Nikita, Royal Pains, Madam Secretary, American Horror Story, and The Morning Show.
He has also had several recurring TV roles. From 2013 to 2021, Ivanir co-starred in the Israeli romantic-comedy series Beauty and the Baker. He recurred as Russian intelligence agent Ivan Krupin over two seasons of Homeland, a Georgian mafia boss on Braquo, a pair of Chechen brothers in Bill Hader's dark HBO comedy Barry, an American 1930's gangster in Babylon Berlin, a snarky Israeli security guard on Amazon's Transparent, Ambassador of the United States to the Holy See in HBO's The New Pope, a cosmonaut on Apple TV's For All Mankind, a microbiologist who opposes Putin in Litvinenko, a Michigan Russian mob lieutenant in Taylor Sheridan's Mayor of Kingstown, and Robert DeNiro's Mossad confidant in Zero Day.